Ancient Zoan

"What the hell... is that?"

Lord Umit, standing atop the tallest Mushroom Rock, frowned. Doflamingo had noticed Aleus's burst of Spirit Pressure, so naturally he would not have missed it either. Besides, the "welcome ceremony" he had arranged at the port had been meant as a test from the start.

It would have been worthwhile if it had revealed even a little of Aleus's true capabilities, even if it meant sacrificing every man he had deployed.

However, Part of Aleus's abilities had been exposed.

Yet what had been revealed left him utterly confused. What the hell was that thing? It looked like Conqueror's Haki, but it was obviously not Conqueror's Haki. He did not possess Conqueror's Haki himself, but he had dealt with plenty of powerful figures who did and was extremely familiar with it.

"A Devil Fruit user? A Paramecia, or..."

Lord Umit's brow furrowed tightly.

With such limited intelligence, he could only make such vague guesses. His initial assessment was that Aleus was a Paramecia Devil Fruit user, with an ability similar to Big Mom's Soul-Soul Fruit. He had personally witnessed Big Mom stripping the souls from those who resisted her.

His instincts told him that the two possessed enormous similarities.

Yet it was precisely that instinct that added several more layers of pressure to Lord Umit's heart.

He knew perfectly well how terrifying Big Mom was.

The more clearly he understood that terror, the more cautious he became, terrified that a single mistake would make him stumble in a gutter and leave him as yet another negative example in the Dark World, one whose story might be passed around for who knew how long.

"Phew! Lord Umit, that feeling... it's pretty frightening!"

The bald man in a baseball cap, Marcus, crouched at Lord Umit's feet. Staring toward the port, he sighed in distress. As Lord Umit's strongest subordinate, Marcus had also mastered Observation Haki, and his proficiency was far from low.

Beyond sensing Aleus's mysterious and terrifying power, he had also noticed the formidable presence of Aleus's Aides.

Such powerful forces

would not be easy to deal with at all.

"Another desperate, brutal battle... sigh! I wonder if I'll ever get the chance to play cards again!" He sighed, as though reminiscing about the wonderful old days when he could happily play cards with others.

"Marcus... if you can't speak properly, then shut your mouth. Once we deal with these troublesome brats, I'll give you half a month off to play cards."

Marcus's defeatist attitude before the battle had even begun nearly made Lord Umit pass out from anger.

"Only half a month? Can't it be longer?"

"Shut up."

Lord Umit shot a fierce glare at the subordinate still trying to bargain with him. There was no point in talking such nonsense now. If they survived this battle, playing however they wanted would be a trivial matter. But if they accidentally screwed things up this time and dug their own graves... then there would be no need to talk such nonsense.

As they spoke, Lord Umit listened to the heavy footsteps drawing closer from afar. He stopped lecturing his subordinate and led Marcus to the edge of the Mushroom Rock, where they could clearly see the sparse group rapidly approaching with astonishing speed.

"Are they planning to win with quality? How confident."

Lord Umit watched the six figures steadily draw closer.

Aleus, Dick, Dillon, Casper, Eschbach, and Farug, the tagalong.

Fran had remained aboard the flagship to guard the ship and had not joined this operation.

In contrast, Lord Umit's side had more than six thousand people—a full thousand times their number.

"Ah! It really is Farug..." Marcus suddenly cried out. "I thought he died in battle! He's actually still alive... Wait, did he defect to the enemy? What a spineless bastard! Damn it!"

"He's just a little bug. Don't bother with him."

Lord Umit did not take Farug seriously. Whether he had died or defected, he was not an important figure. Even if he had sold information... well, Farug, who had originally been planted as a pawn, did not know any information about Lord Umit's shipping conglomerate.

"More importantly, Marcus, are you confident you can take down that big fellow?"

Lord Umit pointed at the culprit making the ground beneath their feet tremble slightly—Eschbach, standing behind Aleus.

"Lord Umit, don't blame me for dampening morale, but how could anyone be absolutely certain about something like this? At most, I can give it my all. I can only guarantee that I'll hold him off and won't let him interfere with your battle before you secure victory."

Marcus did not make an absolute promise.

His Observation Haki sensed intense danger from Eschbach.

This was a formidable opponent, a terrifying enemy who could defeat and kill him if he let his guard down for even a moment. Holding him off was already the greatest promise Marcus could make. Anything more... would just be empty lies.

"Then do your best, Marcus."

Lord Umit gave his response, then turned his attention back to the approaching group of six. Once they entered artillery range, Lord Umit, who had long been holding a Den Den Mushi and waiting, gave the order to fire. In an instant, the thunderous roar of cannon fire nearly drowned out every other sound around them.

The sea breeze, the waves, the cries of seagulls—all of it was buried beneath the booming artillery.

Hundreds of cannons spewed destructive shells with all their might, firing round after round as though ammunition cost nothing. In truth, Lord Umit had indeed invested heavily this time. This army of six thousand had brought an excessive amount of munitions and supplies.

It was enough matériel for a full-scale battle involving ten thousand men, with plenty to spare.

Therefore, The bombardment lasted far longer than it had at the port. The gunners were having the time of their lives today, firing away at the ammunition piled beside the cannons as though it truly cost nothing.

"ROAR—!!!"

An earth-shaking roar actually drowned out the thunder of hundreds of cannons.

A gigantic monster appeared upon the earth. It was... a dinosaur—a colossal dinosaur with an exceptionally long, powerful neck and tail. Its body length was likely over fifty meters, and judging from its height and estimated muscle density... its weight was definitely over one hundred tons.

"FWOOSH—!!!"

The suddenly appearing giant dinosaur opened its mouth and blew out hard. Nearly a thousand incoming cannonballs were all blown away, sent farther and deeper than where they had been fired from, directly blowing up the Logistics Warehouse.

"A Zoan Devil Fruit user? And an Ancient Zoan..." The destroyed Logistics Warehouse did not shake Lord Umit. This artillery tactic had been nothing more than a test in the end, meant to probe the various abilities of Aleus and his Aides.

As long as he could obtain enough intelligence, paying some price was acceptable.

Compared to that, an Ancient Zoan Devil Fruit user—that was the truly troublesome part.